Developing apparatus



Nov. 3, 1953 w. EISBEIN 2,657,618

DEVELOPING APPARATUS Filed April 17, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l a A, v

I -l 3 2; 5 so s 1 4e 45 2e 27 1 lnvenfor:

WALTER Ewaszd Attorney Nov. 3, 1953 w. EISBEIN DEVELOPING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 17, 1950 In vemor: 521.75? 1585,

Aflornem Patented Nov. 3, 1953 OFFICE DEVELOPING APPARATUS Walter Eisbein, Stuttgart Bad Cannstatt, Germany Application April 17, 1950, Serial No. 156,290 Claims priority, application Germany May 13, 1949 11 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to improvements in. a device for developing photographic or photomechanical reproductions.

The device inv accordance with the invention is primarily suited for carrying out a photo-mechanical reproduction process such as is described in French Patent No. 879,995. In such process, a negative image is first produced from an original image upon a coated carrier; the coating of which contains not only light. sensitive material but also contains materials for a developing and fixing process. The negative is then. simultaneously developed and fixed and a positive image transferred to 2. copying material provided. with an image receiving coating. by wetting both the coated carrier and the copying material with a liquid which activates the developing and fixing materials and pressing the coated carrier and the copying material together with their coatings face to face.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a device which will automatically carry out the process outlined above. The device accordance with the invention can, however, also be used for other processes in which appropriate negative material coated with a sensitized layer which has already been subjected to a photomechanical exposure but not as yet developed and other coated material are to be wetted with a liquid and pressed together with their coatings face to face. The device may furthermore beemployed for developing coating carriers wherein an image is not transferred to another carrier.

It is a special object of my invention to provide a device capable of carrying through the aforementioned processes in a practical and simple way within the least amount of time whileproducing good results.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more specifically defined by the appended claims. It is to be understood, however, that such changes in the precise em bodiment of the herein disclosedinvention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. I shows a front elevation of the apparatus seen from the feeder side.

Fig. 2 depicts a. side. elevation.

Fig. 3 presents a. cross section of Fig. 1 takenon line III-11! of Fig. I.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken on line IV -IV of Fig. 1 showing the driving mechanism together with theroiler bearings.

Fig. 5 shows a section through the apparatus taken. on line V-V of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 shows a partly broken away plan view of the feeder section of the apparatus.

Fig. 7 is a cross-section through the feeder section taken on Iine-VIIVII of Fig. 6-.

Fig. 8 shows a cross-section through a special roller arrangement of the apparatus The device shown in the drawings comprises a casing which consists of a liquid-proof lower part I and. the lid, or upper part 2. Between these two parts a frame section 3, consisting of various parts, is removably suspended by means of a flange 4. All the bearings for the mechanism are mounted in this; frame section- For this reason it is possible to shape the lower part. i in the form of a simple tray, uncluttered by any joints and thus to render it altogether liquid-proof. The lower end. of the frame 3 is not completely closed to permit free access of the liquid, contained in the lower part I of the casing, tothe space enclosed by the frame 3.

The frame 3' holds the feeder slide way, consisting of four approximately parallel guiding plates 5, 6, 1', 8' which, as shown in Figs. 5 and '7, are aifixed to the sides 9 with which they form one unit. The side plates 9 together with guiding plates 6, l, are provided with the openings lit and H respectively. thus making it possible for the liquidto penetrate into the space enclosed by these parts. Furthermore the guiding plates 5,, 6}, l, 8 are. fitted with slanting wavelike undulations or corrugations f2; The terminal edges of the guiding plates 5, 6, l, 8 (on the feeder side of the device): as shown. in the. upper right hand corner of Fig. are arranged in offset position, i. e. they are so designed that the plane formed by their terminal edges slopes toward the horizontal plane.

The frame 3 further holds a pair of rollers touching one another and each consisting of a metal. core [3 and an elastic covering [4; the latter for instance can be made of rubber. The line Where the rollers touch adjoins the inner end of the feeder path formed by the guiding plates 5, 6, 'l, 8 and is situated just above the level of the liquid as shown in Fig. 3-. Axle 15 of the lower roller rests in fixed bearings l6 (Fig. 4) mounted on frame 3 while the axle ll of the upper roller is held forks it, which are mountea in guiding means is for movement in the direction of the plane running through axles t5 and l l'. The two rollers are pressed against each other through springs 20 which act on the forks. The pressure exerted by them on the rollers can be regulated by means of set screws 26 mounted in the guiding means 19. Since the covering i l of the rollers is elastic, it is possible, by regulating the pressure exerted by the springs, to make the rollers touch not only along a line formed by their respective coverings, but also along a plane. By selecting coverings M of different degrees of elasticity it is even possible to make one roller impress itself to a certain extent into the other. Fig. 8 shows an exampleof two such rollers, of which one is fitted with a thicker, and thus more elastic rubber covering l4 than the other.

The roller drive is effected through a worm gear 22, which with its bearings, is likewise mounted within the frame 3. Its axle 23 projects through the lid 2 of the casing and can be driven with the help of an electric motor 24,

provided with a reduction gear 25. The worm gear 22 engages an obliquely toothed cog wheel 26, mounted on the roller axle l5, which in turn is geared to a similar cog wheel 2! mounted on axle [1.

Each of the rollers is provided with a set of tangentially mounted stripping plates 28 and 29 respectively on the side opposite to the feeder guiding plates 5, 6, l, 8. The stripping devices are rotatably mounted on axles 3i! and 3!, fixed in the frame 3 and are pressed against the rollers by springs 32 and 33. The springs 3t? iii are so fashioned that they serve simultaneously as exit slide ways leading to slit 3 provided on the rear side of the lid 2. As illustrated in Fig. 2, a receiving tray is provided outside the casing at the exit slit 34. This receiving tray is preferably composed of a set of parallelly arranged wires.

While the device has been shown with only one pair of rollers, obviously a plurality of pairs of rollers arranged in series could be provided therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

The device, for example, can be employed to transfer a positive image from two non-developed but exposed negatives (obtained in the usual way) onto the two sides of a double coated photo copypaper. For this purpose the two negatives are placed layer to layer with the double coated positive paper. In this position all three papers are inserted into the feeder path, so that the first negative will slide with its coated side pointing downwardly between the guiding plates 5 and 5, the double coated paper between plates 6 and 1, and the second negative, its coating pointing upwardly between plates 1 and 8. The off-set arrangement of the slide ways considerably facilitates the simultaneous insertion'of the three coated sheets. The sheets are thereupon pushed in together until they reach the motor driven rollers M which will draw them in. On their way to the rollers the coated carriers are wetted by the liquid in the casing, as a result of which, the chemical elements contained in the paper coatings are activated. The corrugations l2 and the openings l I, provided in the slide ways 5, ii, "i, 8 permit the coatings to be wetted on all sides. The corrugations l2 serve to prevent possible sticking of the wetted copy papers. The transfer of the negative image onto the positive paper takes place during the passage of the sheets through the rollers. The rollers at the same time serve to press out any excess liquid absorbed by '4 the coated carriers, so that they come off the rollers almost dry.

The set of strippers 28 and 29 prevent adher ence of the coated carriers to the rollers. Since these strippers consist of a series of spaced, small, thin plates, uniform operation of the strippers over the whole length of the rollers is guaranteed. From the strippers the coated papers slide immediately onto the bent springs 32 and 33, made of smooth wire, which in turn guide them to the outlet opening 34, from where they reach the receiver tray, 35, which is formed of parallelly spaced wires, mounted outside the casing. No frictional resistance worth mentioning comes into play in the course of this process, since the Wires 32 and 33 as well as the wire structure which forms the receiver tray 35, have a smooth circumference, and because the sliding papers only have tangential contact with these wires. This simultaneously assures that the papers will not stick to any of these parts. The papers are finally taken from the receiver tray and separated by drawing one from the other.

Naturally, single side reproductions can be developed in exactly the same way.

I claim:

1. A device for developing exposed photographic sheet material and for simultaneously transferring an image on to an unexposed transfer sheet material by moistening the materials with a developer liquid and by subsequently press-- ing the materials into contact one with another, said device comprising a casing adapted to hold the developer liquid therein at a given level, and having an opening therein above such level, an arrangement of contacting rollers within the casing, guiding means within the casing adapted to guide a plurality of strips in paths from said opening to the point of tangency of the rollers, at least one of said paths extending below the level of the liquid in the casing, said guiding means being constructed and arranged to allow access of liquid to at least one of said strips, and said guiding means extending between strips guided therein and including means extending from such opening to a point adjacent the rolls for engaging and guiding the outsides of strips separated by said last means for preventing contact between the strips at least in the portion of the path between the opening and a point adjacent the level of the liquid.

2. In a device as claimed in claim 1, a member removable from the casing, bearings carried by such member, and gearing for driving the rollers, the rollers and the gearing being mounted in said bearings.

3. In a device as claimed in claim 1, a frame removably suspended within the casing, bearings carried by said frame, and gearing for driving said rollers, said rollers and gearing being mounted in said bearings.

4. In a device as claimed in claim 1, a member removable from the casing, gearing for driving the rollers, said gearing, rollers and guide channels being mounted on said member.

5. A device for developing reproductions of the character described which comprises a casing for holding developer liquid, an opening in said casing above the level of the liquid for the insertion of sheet material to be treated, a set of rollers comprising at least one pair of contacting rollers within said casing and a plurality of spaced fixed substantially parallel guiding means forming at least two superposed curved slide ways communicating with said liquid leading from said opening to under the surface or the liquid and then to the set of rollers for feeding at least two sheets of material inserted into the opening simultaneously and in superposed relationship through the liquid and then to the set of rollers, said guideways including means extending between and separating strips therewithin during at least a part of their travel therethrough.

6. A device according to claim 1 in which said guiding means are formed by plates provided with openings in the portions at a level below the surface of the liquid.

7. A device according to claim 1 in which said guiding means are formed by plates provided with wave-like undulations.

8. A device according to claim 1 in which said guiding means are formed by plates provided with wave-like undulations which are oblique to the direction of the slide way formed by such guide plates.

9. A device according to claim 1 comprising in addition support plates provided with perforations afiixed to the side edges of the guiding means.

10. A device according to claim 1 in which the terminal edges of said guiding means at the insert opening are ofi-set with respect to each other.

11. A device according to claim 1 in which the contacting portions of said rollers are at a level normally above the surface of the liquid.

WALTER EISBEIN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 399,424 Moss Sept. 22, 1908 1,005,430 Hoops Oct. 10, 1911 1,366,748 Shapiro Jan. 25, 1921 2,342,394 Fullerton Feb. 22, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 879,995 France Dec. 10, 1942 

